The first issue of the Vatican's newspaper…
July 1861 CE
The original intent of the newspaper is unabashedly polemical and propagandistic in defense of the Papal States, adopting the name of a private pamphlet financed by a French Catholic legitimist group.
The defeat of papal troops at Castelfidardo on September 18, 1860, had substantially reduced the temporal power of the Pope, prompting Catholic intellectuals to present themselves in Rome for the service of Pope Pius IX.
This agenda supports the notion of a daily publication to champion the opinions of the Holy See.
By July 1860, the deputy Minister of the Interior, Marcantonio Pacelli (grandfather of the future Pope Pius XII), had plans to supplement the official bulletin of the Catholic Church Giornale di Roma with a semi-official "rhetorical" publication.
In early 1861, controversialist Nicola Zanchini and journalist Giuseppe Bastia had been granted editorial direction of Pacelli's newspaper.
Official permission to publish was sought on June 22, 1861, and four days later, on June 26, Pius IX gave his approval for the regulation of L'Osservatore.
The first edition is entitled "L'Osservatore Romano – a political and moral paper" and costs five baiocchi.
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